WSOP Event #33, $5,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo: Ruthenberg Holds Off
Jesus
Friday, 20 June 2008
Coming to a final table with the chip lead is always a comforting
feeling, but you’d rather you didn’t have three of the best poker
players in the world waiting for you, either.
Coming to a final table with the chip lead is always a comforting
feeling, but you’d rather you didn’t have three of the best poker
players in the world waiting for you, either. That was exactly the
situation Sebastian Ruthenberg found himself in, but with a
Germanic efficiency similar to his country’s football team, he
ended up securing his first gold bracelet and $328,756.
The chip counts and stacks at the start of play looked like
this:
Seat 1: Bob Lauria - 44,000
Seat 2: Marcel Luske - 308,000
Seat 3: Steve Sung - 207,000
Seat 4: Annie Duke - 277,000
Seat 5: Alessio Isaia - 398,000
Seat 6: Sebastian Ruthenberg - 663,000
Seat 7: Chris Ferguson - 434,000
Seat 8: Bob Beveridge - 280,000
The early running saw Marcel Luske as the most active player at
the table, picking up pots from Ferguson and Ruthenberg in the
early stages. The Dutchman then turned to executioner, knocking Bob
Beveridge out in eighth.
Steve Sung followed Beveridge out in seventh, while Alessio
Isaia was unfortunate to go out in sixth after Ruthenberg spiked an
ace on sixth street to scoop the pot against him.
Ferguson’s quest to win his sixth bracelet seemed much easier
with the elimination of his two fellow pros in fourth and fifth, as
Duke then Luske fell to the wayside. Meanwhile, initial microstack
Bob Lauria had been hanging on with a grim determination. The
tournament came to an end for him though after his set of eights
was bettered by the full house of Chris Ferguson, which left
‘Jesus’ to battle it out with Ruthenberg for the title.
First blood went to the German after Ferguson hit the case five
to make a set, which was no good after Ruthenberg showed him he’d
been drawing slim against his own trip aces. From the loss of that
1.4 million chip pot, Ferguson fought back, slowly chipping away at
the lead. One massive pot of his own then sent Ferguson to the
brink of the win.
Ruthenberg was left looking at 400,000, but immediately set off
on a heater. Doubling up in the next few hands, Sebastian then won
a huge pot when he made nines-up on the river, swinging the battle
firmly in the European’s favour. He clinched the bracelet the very
next hand, and completed a good week for the European players out
in Las Vegas.
Tags:
Poker News, WSOP, Event, #33, , $5, 000, Seven, Card, Stud, Hi-Lo:, Ruthenberg, Holds, Off
Jesus